KB News Desk
South Korean figure skater Kim Chae-yeon has captured the bronze medal at the world championships in Canada for her first career medal at the annual competition.
Kim scored 203.59 points overall to finish third in the women’s singles behind Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (222.96 points) and Isabeau Levito of the United States (212.16 points) at the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal on Friday (local time).
Kim only ranked sixth after the short program with 66.91 points Wednesday but posted the third-best free skating score with 136.68 points.
Kim is the second straight South Korean woman to reach the world championships podium, after Lee Hae-in grabbed silver in Japan.
Lee was third after the short program in Montreal with 73.55 points but only ranked 12th in the free skate with 121.93 points. She finished sixth overall at 195.48 points.
With Kim and Lee finishing third and sixth, South Korea will be able to send three skaters to the women’s singles event at next year’s world championships — as it did this year.
For countries with three skaters in action, if the combined ranking positions of the top two performers come to 13 or fewer, then they will keep their three quota places for the following year.
Kim opened her free skate with a clean double axel and executed a flawless triple lutz-triple toe loop combination.
However, Kim received the exclamation mark for “attention” for not having a clear edge on a pair of triple flip jumps later in the program.
Kim also lost points after an incomplete, quarter landing on her final jump, a triple salchow.
